'The vote that counts'

RICHMOND — Black and white congregated side by side in the former capitol of the Confederacy Monday to watch the 13-member Virginia Electoral College, including Seventh District elector J. Harold Boyd of Culpeper, cast votes for Barack Obama as president and Joe Biden as vice president.

“I’m just happy to be here,” said Boyd, a high school history teacher, lifelong Democrat and longtime party activist. “This is the vote that counts.”

It was a historic occasion on many levels, and the energy inside the gilded House Chamber was electric. Outside, sunshine ushered in a rare and warm December day with temperatures in the 60s.
“This temple of democracy shines very brightly today,” Gov. Tim Kaine told a crowd of hundreds on the House floor, many of whom leaned over the balcony for a closer look.

“In this building and on this day, the General Assembly ratified the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution,” said Kaine, mentioning the Capital’s connection to patriot Thomas Jefferson, its designer, and Abraham Lincoln, a champion of freedom who visited toward the end of the Civil War.

And it was here in the statehouse of Virginia that civil rights strategies were born and the grandson of a slave, Doug Wilder, became governor in 1990.

“Today this building is home to another historic event — the meeting of presidential electors to cast elector votes for Barack Obama as president,” said Kaine, mentioning that at one time the law allowed electors to sway from the popular vote.

“That problem was fixed: Now, under state law, you electors must vote for the candidates the people elected or face legal penalties,” the governor said to a great uproar of laughter and applause.

The hour-long ceremony began promptly at noon and was mostly formal procedures, though Jean W. Cunningham, chairwoman of the state board of elections, also received laughter and applause from the crowd with her opening remark: “The recording of this session will be available by the end of the week on You Tube.”

The Virginia Department of Education also taped the event and plans to distribute DVD copies to history teachers at high schools across the state. But the day’s business was mostly serious.

Long periods of silence dominated the sun-filled chamber as the Democratic electors unanimously signed many documents certifying their vote for Obama and Biden — copies of which will be mailed to President of the U.S. Senate Dick Cheney.

Three young pages, including Jamie Hong of London Towne Elementary School in Centreville, helped distribute and collect the numerous papers.

When the time came, Boyd, like the other electors, followed the prepared script distributed beforehand in saying, “I, J. Harold Allan Boyd, cast my vote for Barack Obama of the state of Illinois,” though adding, “honorably” before “cast my vote.”

Boyd, who teaches at Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania County, toured the governor’s mansion beforehand with his wife, Donna, and longtime political ally James Chuck Holmes, a Culpeper native and former secretary of the Culpeper County Electoral Board.

The Boyds picked up Holmes at his home in Lignum around 7 a.m. Monday before making the drive to Richmond.

“This is something my parents, my grandparents, would have loved to see,” said Holmes.

In punctuating the significance of the day for him, Boyd harkened back to his 12th birthday when he got to ride the train from the town of Orange, where he grew up, to the Lincoln Monument to hear Martin Luther King Jr. speak.

“This is the fulfillment of the dream,” Boyd said.

Asked about the election of Obama, Donna Boyd almost squealed.

“Oh, my goodness gracious sakes!” she said. “I never thought I’d live that long to see that moment. It just makes me feel fulfilled.”

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@starexponent.com